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Friday, July 23, 2010

Finally there's one in my area this weekend and I managed to get a slot reserved. For those of you who have not heard of this, Appleseed is a Marksman's clinic run by the Revolutionary War Veterans Assoc. Its goal is to teach people to be better shooters and educate the public on the history of this country.

Now the decision is which rifle(s) to bring. I'm thinking the SAR-1 (AK clone) w/ the SKS as a backup since using the AR would completely deplete my ammo for it. For the rimfire, my Marlin 81 is the only option.

Two full days of intensive rifle training. This is going to be fun. Anyone else in the IL area going to be there?

Thursday, July 22, 2010

So in a slowly dying media, they're trying to stop free advertising of their product? What do they think generates traffic to their online site and hence generates advertising revenue? Not like they're ever going to make up in settlements what they spend in legal fees like when the record industry went after pre-teen girls who downloaded Britney Spears songs.

The news is reporting that for the first week, only 11 applications have been turned in for Chicago handgun permits. Unsurprising given the amount of requirements, paperwork and cash it takes to get one w/o even figuring in the 3-4 weeks for a FOID card.

Anecdotal evidence I've heard is that every training class around is filled to capacity for months however and more are being established.

Now we get to see how many of the applications are arbitrarily rejected and how long it takes to get them issued.

Since several states have ignored every study and report done showing the concept is flawed and can only be used as backdoor registration, the NSSF has stated support for a federal study on the matter.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry, fully supports the Firearms Microstamping Evaluation and Study Act (H.R. 5667), which calls for federal study of the ill-conceived and flawed concept of firearms microstamping. NSSF is supporting this legislation because we have grave and serious concerns about this concept. We believe that a comprehensive study will add to the scientific body of evidence now available demonstrating that microstamping is an easily defeated, fundamentally flawed concept that holds the potential for pricing firearms out of the reach of the average American.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Some of you may remember that I contacted AHSA and asked why they didn't submit an amicus brief in the McDonald case, and I got this response...

"AHSA was not created by the Brady Group.

We have submitted a Amicus Breif, and I will be at the SCOTUS.

We don't "bash" the NRA. We agree w/ much of what the NRA is for, we disagree w/ little.

What we are against is the NRA's one-sided politics. When the NRA will go against one of their NRA "A" rated politicians simply b/c they are part of one party - the NRA has nothing to do w/ guns, but everything to do w/ politics."

Then...

"It's not publicly published.

It will be released post decision. "

I asked LE45 about this and he said nonsense.

After McDonald came down, I wrote back and asked when they were going to release their super secret amicus brief and got this response...

"We applaud the decision by the Chicago Courts. We are happy we can now defend ourselves in Chicago.

Good sir, please refrain from writing me or I will report you to the local authorities for harassment."

Nothing fancy but it works well enough for a 100m range and keeping the kids entertained. The 'tripod' it comes w/ is a piece of crap but its fitting is a standard attachment so it fits the one I already had for my camera (shown).

I used to play the video game Star Wars: Rebellion. One time, a large rebel fleet attacked one of my planets that I was using as my base of operations for that sector. There was no way that the defense forces I had there could win so I only had a few options available. I could retreat and let the rebels take the planet and all its resources or I could fight and maybe lose the fleet and the planet.

What I chose to do was fight. Instead of trying to take out a few of the big capital ships, however, I sent all my forces against the transports and landing forces. I lost the fleet but managed to destroy the rebel invasion troops and preventing them from being able to conquer the planet. Even though it did take a pounding in subsequent bombardments.

This was a loss at the tactical level but a strategic victory as I prevented my opponent from achieving his goal.

For firearm rights, the confiscations of firearms during Katrina were similar. Tactically it was an immediate loss as citizens were stripped of their means of self-defense by gov't authorities. Strategically however, it turned into a success as it led to the Vitter Amendment federally, numerous states passing similar non-confiscation laws, a successful lawsuit by they SAF/NRA against the city and mayor, as well as a very positive PR effect for our side and making people like Josh Sugarmann eat crow.

For the last few years, gun ban groups like the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Ownership have been trying to claim Heller and now McDonald as 'Strategic Victories' under the guise that 'gun bans are off the table' and 'reasonable gun control will survive'. Yet we haven't seen dozens of states passing their endorsed measures nor federal legislation get passed w/ overwhelming majorities. We're seeing them grasping at straws and struggling to even get their pet bills heard.

In the face of this, we need to continue to make sure that our victories are substantial and that they continue to 'Advance to the rear'.

I'm thinking this is more than a coincidence especially since at least one of them were in uniform. I'm thinking these are ambushes like the situation in LA(?) where cars were being attacked and in one case gas pumped into a building.